Professional Development important component of redesign plan

By Hank Bounds
State Superintendent of Education
July 10, 2006

Any plan to redesign education must include elements that address the needs of teachers and administrators. Countless studies have shown how essential having an excellent teacher in every classroom is. Like any other profession, teachers and other educators need high-quality professional development to continually improve their skills.

One of the goals of the draft plan for Redesigning Education for the 21 st Century Workforce in Mississippi is to provide Mississippi educators with high-quality, standards-based professional learning opportunities that will prepare instructors to implement new curricula and increase student achievement, course placement and completion.

The National Dropout Prevention Center has identified the elements that successful professional development programs have in common. “The best practices of professional development are embedded in the teacher's workday, are of sufficient length for teachers to internalize and practice what they learn, use active teacher learning strategies, establish learning communities for discussion and support, and are tied to student achievement and school improvement goals,” wrote Jay Smink and Franklin P. Schargel in their book, “Helping Students Graduate: A Strategic Approach to Dropout Prevention.”

We are helping Mississippi superintendents, administrators and teachers receive job-embedded professional development from any web-based computer through Project Stream, an online collection of professional development video modules designed to enhance teaching and strengthen administrative leadership, thereby accelerating student learning.

Currently running in Pilot Mode, we have held initial training for district personnel and will have additional training on using Project Stream this fall. Project Stream uses Mississippi Public Broadcasting's United Streaming is a system that primarily delivers instructional videos to students over the web. Educators across Mississippi can also use Project Stream to offer innovative staff development for their own districts. With minimum training, district professional development can be converted into a digital module for Project Stream.

The draft plan also includes professional development for 290 middle school, high school and vocational administrators, including a face-to-face regional meeting, spring and fall meetings and online follow-up for each of the five years included in the plan.

In addition, the Research and Curriculum Unit at Mississippi State University has agreed to plan and provide high-quality, standards-based professional development opportunities that will prepare Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) applications, and vocational instructors to implement the revised curriculum, increase overall student achievement, and support educators in becoming technology literate by meeting the National Technology Standards for Teachers.

We all know the importance of having a highly-qualified teacher in every classroom. We also have an obligation to each of those teachers to help them continue to learn about their subject matter, how to teach those subjects, how to monitor progress in student achievement, and how to analyze their own teaching methods and learn how to adapt them to increase student learning.

We cannot isolate teachers in their classrooms and expect them continue to improve their skills. We owe them our full support and part of that support is providing opportunities for them to learn and grown in their chosen profession.

(Contact: Caron Blanton, APR, Director of Communications, 601-359-3706 .)